Yes I tried putting her in with them last night but when it got to my own bedtime I 'chickened out' and put her back in her broody coop! She was cowering under Boris the cockerel, who is actually quite good at giving the other girls a peck if they get too uppity with her! I think I will persevere, maybe leave it another week though, and I can also stop the pop hole door from closing for a bit so she can escape to the enclosed run if necessary - good idea.

hy guys another lovely question a guy at my allotment has 3 female khaki cambell ducks point of lay and he said they are going as he has no room so he said hes going to neck them as im a lovely person i cant let him do this so ive said ill take them ive read up they need a good water tub so they can keep eyes clean ect i can do this ok but are these ok to mix with hens or not

I have seen chickens and ducks together, no problems at all, but I do not know whether they were born and raised together or not.
I gather ducks can and will make do with a washing up bowl or an ex. baby bath as long as they have a water splash. I love ducks and would love a couple, I also have a pond in the garden, so maybe in 2018 I will make a few enquiries?

They could possibly live alongside hens, given enough space, but in your situation it would add to your problems, Dye. You've posted about the mud in the run, and since you have to tip out the ducks filthy water every day or so, this will make the ground into a swamp. They are much messier than hens in any case, and will add to your rat problems. They will need a coop of their own, at ground level, as they can't roost and perch with your hens. They will need herding into the coop every evening at dusk as they don't take themselves off to bed like chickens do. They eat soaked wheat, or special duck pellets, not layers pellets, and in a mixed run the chickens will eat it too, and the lower protein and calcium content will unbalance their diet and egg production will go down.
I understand your kind impulse to save these ducks, but perhaps your friend is piling on the pressure for you to solve what is really his problem, not yours? Unless you can provide them with a large enough rat proof run of their own, my advice would be to think it through before rushing in to taking them.

I kept 4 ducks for a few years in my youth. They had a duck house and free ranged in a large orchard and had access to a river. Unfortunately, one day they all disappeared and I assumed that they had been taken by a fox.

A few years ago I tried again. We knew we had foxes and so first kept them in a large run with an electric fence and a large plastic sandpit full of water for them to splash around in. However, this had to be emptied and refilled daily because it got so muddy. They are also incredibly messy eaters and their water containers get contaminated with their mash. Their droppings are wet and sloppy. I then decided keeping them in a run was not working and let them free range in the orchard, swim on the river and shut them in at night. This worked for a few months, but then we were having them taken in broad daylight and so I gave up and now just keep chicken.

I would love to keep ducks, but unless you have a large fenced area with a natural water supply it is an extremely messy business.